Zakariya al-Qazwini

Zakariya al-Qazwini (1203-1283) was a Persian astronomer, geographer, physician, and science fiction writer who lived at the time of the Ilkhanate.

Biography
Zakariya al-Qazwini was born in 1203 in Qazvin, Persia and served as a legal expert and judge in Persia and in Baghdad. Qazwini was a descendant of Anas ibn Malik, one of the companions of Muhammad. During his life, he travelled around the Levant and Mesopotamia until he entered Ata-Malik Juvayni's circle in Baghdad. He wrote "Marvels of Creatures and Strange Things Existing", an illustrated cosmography that was written in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, and he wrote some proto-science fiction stories and some other works with the patronage of Governor Juvayni. He died in 1283 at the age of 80.